30f> OF THE DIFFERENCES 



on the contrary of the pelvis, the difference of the cla- 

 vicles, thigh bones, &c.*(C) 



504. With respect to the soft parts, the female mu- 

 cous tela is more lax and yielding, so as to dilate more 

 easily during pregnancy; the skin is more delicate, and 

 of a clearer white, from the quantity of fat below it. 

 The hair of the head is commonly longer : but other 

 parts, which are covered with hair in men, are either 

 quite smooth in women, as the chest and chin ; or less 

 hairy, as the perinaeum ; or smaller in circumference, 

 as the pudenda; or covered with merely a very delicate 

 and soft down, as the arms and legs. (D) 



505. Among the particular differences of function, 

 must be mentioned the pulse, which is, in females, cee- 

 teris paribus, more frequent (116); also the quantity of 

 blood passing to the abdomen is greater. The lungs, 

 on the other hand, are smaller, from the greater nar- 

 rowness of the chest, which is however more moveable 

 above. The os hyoides is much smaller ; the larynx 

 scarcely prominent and more contracted, whence the 

 voice is less grave. 



50G. As to the animal functions, besides the greater 

 abundance of nerves in the organs of generation, the 

 general nervous system of females is far more mo- 

 bile, and the propensity to emotion stronger. On the 

 other hand, the muscular system is weaker, and the 

 muscles (with the exception of the glutei, psoa?, 



* I have described these differences more fully throughout the sceleton in 

 my Osteologicut work. p. 87 sq. ed. 2. 



Compare Sommerring's Tabula sveleti foeminci. Francof. 179(i. fol. with 

 tke mr.le fifrure in B. S. Albinus's Tabula sieleti. tab. 1. 



